Month: July 2015

I started the fest bright and early on Monday to start setting up the tent and help out with whatever was happening. I hung up a bunch of silly planets and stars to help Pinbot feel at home. Of all the AudioFeeds and Cornerstones, I guess no one ever brought a pinball machine to the festival. But somebody blew away my high score, so definitely not doing that again.

The Radon tent didn’t really get started until Thursday and we had a really solid day of great artists. There never was a time when the tent felt completely empty, we were pretty impressed by the steady stream of folks checking out a lot of the “smaller” artists playing our place. It was nice to see the only Springfield band, Honey/Suck, represent. Other highlights for me was Mailboxes, 6’10, Waterdeep, and Levi The Poet.

Levi The Poet closing out Thursday at the Radon Tent

I have to say the lineup this year was definitely our best yet. When people asked me what day would be the best to check out the fest, it was really hard to come up with a clear answer, although maybe Friday?

Friday at the Radon tent we hosted some more great artists including The Still, Small Voice, Bethany Hansen, and my highlight of the day: Trouper. That evening got a little weird as we cranked the Radon eccentricity to the max with folk punk, Columbian metal, and goth. It was my first time seeing a Destroy Nate Allen set and it did not disappoint. Elsewhere at the fest the Supertones were playing as well as one of my all time faves The Soil & The Son.

The Supertones headlining Friday on the Black Sheep stage

Saturday was the last full day, but a very awesome day as well. The Radon stage felt more Radon than ever with many more new discoveries such as Get In The Ark, The Bergamot, and Fever Fever. I think we ended in the right way with a very loud Muir set to shake people to the core, followed by the quietest Beards set ever. We then launched into the dance party with Spoken Nerd and Quiet Entertainer, which unfortunately got shut down early due to noise complaints. Elsewhere at the fest Flatfoot 56 were so engaging with their pillow fight themed show, 2 people actually got engaged.

Saturday night was also my biggest freak out moment when the other organizers came over to my tent, while I was enjoying a very nice Beards set. They informed me the generator at the Black Sheep stage blew up and they may need to bring over Flatfoot 56 to my stage. I immediately went into the fetal position. Fortunately that didn’t happen, I’m sure my tiny-frail hipster tent could not have collapsed trying to contain all that rock.

Comrades playing an impromptu set on the Front Porch stage

I’m very thankful AudioFeed has brought me into the team. I’m also thankful for my own team, some of my usual Radon volunteers showed up to help me run the tent. Thanks Zaxxson and JB! Apryl was already drafted for overall artist hospitality and my wife’s job was to keep our 1 year old alive, which she did successfully. Also a huge shoutout to the Radon tent sound team, the Impact Crew. They were veterans from Cornerstone and were a great group of guys to work with, despite the fact they didn’t understand why all these hipster bands didn’t have bass players.

Every year this festival feels more like a family reunion, perhaps a glimpse of what heaven is like, and that was certainly the case this year. The main organizers of the fest have been transparent about the business end, which has just been posted on the AudioFeed Facebook page. We still have more growing to do for sure, but AudioFeed is definitely something special. I’ve already got ideas for 2016.